The Doctor's Army
by wolfchic011
Summary: The Doctor is kidnapped. The TARDIS is wreaked. Time is falling apart, history and the future are colliding endlessly. The time lock will break and the Time Lords will have their revenge. In order to restore the universe to its proper balance, it will take an army. An army of time. An army of the Doctor's companions.
1. Chapter 1: A Beginning

Welcome to The Doctor's Army! This story was conceived, debated and written by LightBender and wolfchic011. Fair warning, in the words of River Song: SPOILERS!

This chapter is written entirely by LightBender.

Enjoy!

Chapter 1: A Beginning

Let me tell you a story.  
There once was a Time Lord who stole a TARDIS and wandered all of the  
space and time. He was the last Time Lord, the one who had condemned  
the rest of his kind. He ran away from them and his past, trying to  
atone for the deaths he had caused by protecting the innocent.  
It was a lonely life and eventually he started taking companions with  
him, children who would follow him with starlight in their eyes and  
dreams held in their hands. He thought he was helping them. Instead,  
he turned them into weapons, soldiers, the things he despised. They  
were all willing to die for him, to protect him. That was never what  
he meant to do. He had never meant for things to go that far, but he  
turned his companions all into monsters that lingered in dark corners  
and waited to strike.  
He left all his companions in the end. But they never left him.  
He was the Doctor, soaring through time and space, touching and  
changing so many lives. He could never stay in one place, stay with  
one person. He would save the world time and time again.  
But this is not the story of the Doctor's victories.  
This is the story of how the Doctor died and it begins with me.  
I am the Master. Your enemy, Doctor, don't try and deny it. You and  
I...we were meant to have this fight. Forever and ever, destined to  
clash our swords, to watch the other burn and be reborn, to die and  
yet live.  
The Doctor, my Doctor, my Doctor! You wonderful man you...you are ice  
and you are fire, you are destruction, you are pure desire. You are  
the world and time and you are black holes in the night sky. You are  
the destroyer of the world and the protector born again. You are a god  
who tries so hard to be human. You are a contradiction, Doctor, my  
Doctor. You will drive me mad, don't you understand?  
We could dance tonight. I know you danced with her, wasn't it all you  
ever wanted? To dance with your precious little flower and pretend  
that everything was perfect in the world, that for once no one died?  
Didn't you want to dance with her all night long and never have the  
song end? But all songs must end and we must go to meet our finale,  
the resounding four beats. Don't you hear them? They echo in the  
world, in my head, rattling around my chest and the hunger it  
creates...it creeps up my sternum, tearing at my throat, longing to  
consume the whole world...cast it into fire and destruction and end  
all in the darkness that'll fall. Don't you see it? Can't you hear it?  
We were made for each other, Doctor. My Doctor. I am your Master.  
Mortal enemies until the end of time itself, but time never ends. It  
stretches on and on, never ending, no matter how fast we race against  
it. Time will always win and leave us behind, wondering why.  
We'll crash and burn tonight. I won't change course and you wouldn't  
risk stopping. We are a supernova and a black hole that exist  
together, one destroying, one creating, constantly canceling the other  
out, but now one will win. One will overpower the other.  
You protect your companions so much...why? What does it do to care for  
people, to care for humans, the weak mortals? We are the last of our  
kind, yet you reject me. You say you want to help me, to travel with  
me, but you say that because you're afraid. You're afraid of what we  
could be, what we could do. We could watch the world burn tonight,  
Doctor. Won't you join me? We could be everything, Doctor, my Doctor.  
Four beats. Four knocks. The drums. They haunt me. You've heard them. You know  
they're real. I'm not as mad you think I am. We are all driven mad by  
our own thoughts. You wouldn't leave me alone to drown. You begged me  
to regenerate...you are so afraid of being alone, but you shun  
everyone. You're afraid of being hurt. You know the pain...you how it  
feels, but this will be worse. This will be so much worse. I will make  
you feel it all, Doctor, my Doctor. You and I, we will go down into  
hell itself and burn by flames so hot they are ice. We will spend  
eternity together and I will watch your end.  
I did not sacrifice myself to save you. I was controlled by rage. The  
madness of those four knocks, the drums, oh the drums that permeate  
the world. The drums of war. They put them there, the Time Lords. They  
needed me. They still need me. Oh, they need me and you do too,  
Doctor, my Doctor. You can deny it all you want, but you cannot lie to  
your hearts and with each beat, you know.  
Now I see that they were right. The Time Lords were completely right.  
You must be stopped, Doctor. You can't be allowed to roam free. You  
damage all you touch, make them into your weapons, your tools, and  
they can never change back. You have ruined so many lives. You are not  
safe for the world. But, don't be afraid. You and me...we'll spend an  
eternity together, an eternity suffering.  
It'll be perfect, the Doctor, my Doctor.

:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:

The Time Lords had been sent back to their own time and with them came  
the Master. He was gasping for breath on the floor, barely conscious.  
"What do we do with him?" asked Rassilon, Lord President. He was  
injured, but still alive. He was hanging at threads, waiting for the  
fallout.  
The Visionary started tapping the table in the four beats again. The  
Master curled up weakly and covered his ears. The Visionary turned her  
endless eyes on the committee. "The beats end not yet. On and on they  
go...four knocks. The sound of drums."  
The Partisan spoke then. "What do you mean?"  
"He still lives yet. One, two, three, four, one, two, three, four,  
hear them resound. Hear them linger. Hear them destroy. Here, your  
hearts will break."  
Rassilion cocked his head. "We could use him. The four knocks...the  
passage remains open still. Does it not, Visionary? Answer. You have  
foreseen this, have you not?"  
The Visionary scribbled wildly on the paper, eyes manic and muttering  
to herself. After a few moments, she stared at him. "Use him and more  
is at stake than the end of time. Destruction, follow the thread,  
following it all the way through and you can try and stop all that  
he's ever done, but it could all fall apart. Everything shall fall,  
all the lives, all the deaths, every single thing will fall into the  
stars and all you will see is...is...  
"Time lock, heart lock, key and lock, what is the key? How do you end  
our misery? If there is no key, find the creator of the lock. The  
lock, the lock, it holds things in orbit, great things, but will  
greatness be freed if the lock is broken? You will lose it all, all,  
all, it all will fail...all will be lost. The blue box, the four  
knocks, the TARDIS in the night sky, the moon in the ocean, the fish  
fly through the town, the innocent will die, the weapons will fight,  
the army, the army...they are no army. They number few, one short of  
two four knocks but more shall come. One, two, three, four, one, two, three, four, the  
knocks, the breaking hearts of a Time Lord."  
The Woman dropped her hands, no longer content to stand by silently.  
"Don't do this. You don't know what will happen-"  
"Silence. Go back to your weeping. You are guilty." Rassilon dismissed  
her with a wave of his hand and went to kneel by the Master's broken  
form. "Arise, Master. You have a new purpose."  
"Purpose? What purpose? The purpose is gone. Gone, gone,  
gone...Doctor..." the Master muttered wildly, pulling painfully at his  
hair. "Where is the Doctor? My Doctor, he promised. We will end. We  
will burn."  
"You will go to the Doctor. Find him. Bring him back. Do you understand?"  
The Master looked up with a lopsided grin. "The Doctor. The Doctor, he  
is mine. I will destroy him."  
"Go. Do. Now."  
The Master's laughter lingered in the room long after he was gone.  
The Partisan's quiet voice shivered just slightly. "What is the plan,  
Lord President?"  
Rassilon pet his staff distractedly. "Worry not on that. We will be  
free or he will pay."  
The Visionary looked at the night sky that was the link of the Time  
Lords' to reality. She whispered as she drew the charcoal sketch of a  
police box, "The Doctor's weapons."


	2. Chapter 2: Collision

Written by wolfchic011 and LightBender.

Well, most of the beginning is wolfchic011, LightBender just "didn't like the grammar" so she "made some changes".

LightBender: That's quite rude of you to say, I was helping!

wolfchic011: *shakes head* Enjoy!

* * *

**Chapter Two:** Collision

"Didn't really need you in the end did we?" Martha joked as she climbed up the ramp to join the Doctor at the TARDIS railing. She was still feeling a little giddy from their close escape onboard the S.S. Pentallian.

The Doctor didn't answer; he just stood in stony silence, a distant, sad look in his eyes.

"Doctor, are you alright?" Martha asked, wondering if her little joke had hurt him.

He turned his head and considered her with those impossibly deep eyes. "Martha…" he began, "if I hadn't survived that… if I wasn't okay."

"Doctor?"

He ignored her interruption. "What would you do?"

She was taken aback. "I… I…" She had never really thought about it before.

The Doctor leaned forward on the TARDIS console. "There's no guarantee I'll always survive, Martha. I may be clever and fast, but I'm not invulnerable. And I have enemies. So many enemies…" He stared distantly at the TARDIS core.

She was silent.

The Doctor straightened up abruptly. "Listen to me Martha, if something like this or worse happens to me again, I need you to promise me something."

She nodded. "Sure… anything."

"Get back to the TARDIS and close the doors. I have emergency programs in the system that'll activate even if I'm not around."

"Emergency programs? What do those do?"

The Doctor began digging in his suit pockets. "They'll take you home." He explained flatly with a slight catch in his voice that could have easily been passed off as simple tickle in the throat.

Martha wasn't convinced. There was something else she was sure. "But what about you? Am I just supposed to leave you behind? How will you get back?"

He didn't answer. He never did. "You'll be needing this…" He pulled his hand from his pocket and held up a key on a silver chain.

Martha gasped. "Really?" It was a TARDIS key, her very own key to the Doctor's machine. She momentarily forgot her frustration with the man as she watched it swing back and forth in the light.

The Doctor gave her one of his half-smiles that did nothing to break the sad look on his face. "Frequent flyer's privilege."

:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:

It was ready. She had to take a step back to take it all in. The enormous machine filled over half the room, a hulking mass of black metal and switches and lights. After nearly two years of research, work, tests and failures, _it was ready_.

Rose Tyler gently laid one hand on the dimension cannon. "Finally." The word echoed endlessly in the empty room. The effect, though familiar, still gave her chills. These late nights at Torchwood 1 had become commonplace, her fellow team members no longer questioned the dark circles under her eyes or the clothes that matched the ones she had worn the day before. Even Mickey had stopped begging her to go home. She hadn't had a shower or a decent night's sleep in over a week. She was barely keeping herself going on coffee and adrenaline at this point. But it was all worth it. The cannon was finished. They could end this.

She looked up at the sky through the room's single window. The sky was dark but not because of clouds. The sky was completely clear but only a handful of stars still shone, scattered about the heavens, unable to see each other's light.

There was so little time left.

She knew the cannon was dangerous, that had been a given when the design had first been in progress. Torchwood had designed a testing process for the machine that would take a week or more, gradually building up to sending her through, back to her universe. She didn't have that kind of time.

Rose walked around the machine, switching it on and priming the mechanisms. The cannon's lights began flashing and the center mechanisms began to turn. She stood in front of the cannon, staring down the barrel at the whirring machine. The dimension stabilizer was picking up speed, emitting a low-pitched hum. It was blue but not quite her favorite shade of blue. Only one thing was her favorite shade of blue.

She fingered the switch on the wall. There wasn't time to test everything. She would skip a few levels, just to save time. The first object lay on the table to her right, something inanimate but alive. She hefted it with a small smile and aimed at the center of the whirring machine. The humming was echoing ominously around the room, the lights from the cannon flickering along the walls, throwing shadows into sharp relief one second and destroying them the next second.

_This is it._ She threw the object at the same moment she pulled the switch. There was a blinding flash of blue-white light and a sound like a plasma rifle going off. She ducked and covered her head in case the object came ricocheting back to her. When several seconds passed and nothing exploded, she uncovered her head and rose to her feet. The cannon had quieted back to its pre-jump hum. The object was nowhere in sight.

The monitor on the table let out a blip and she rushed to check. It had made it. The object was completely intact. In _another_ universe.

Her heart was racing now. It _worked._ It really worked.

She raced to the coat closet near the entrance. _It'll work for me too. I'm going back._ She yanked her jacket from its peg and hastily exchanged it for her lab coat. She opened her locker and removed the only things she would be taking back with her from this world: the gun and the key. The key went in its old place around her neck while the gun took up residence on her shoulder.

So this was it. Her hands trembled as they adjusted the gun strap. She was really going back.

Rose's thoughts briefly went to her family. They would miss her: Mum and Pete and Tony and Mickey. But they would understand. This was so much bigger than any of them, then all of them. They knew this was what she had been working towards for years, simple, not really that much in retrospect: a way back.

She silently made her way back to the front of the cannon, where the mechanisms were still turning away, humming mysteriously. It was time to go home.

She closed her eyes and clutched at the key. "I'm coming Doctor…" She whispered. "I'm coming back." She threw the switch and started running.

:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:

Martha held out her hands for the key. Softly, the Doctor began to lower it towards her outstretched palms. The tip of the metal was ghosting just above Martha's hands when the whole room suddenly pitched sideways.

The Doctor flew onto the console, barely catching himself. Martha tumbled halfway down the ramp towards the door, the key nowhere in sight.

"What the hell was that?" She tried to scramble back to her feet but was thrown flat on her face as the TARDIS rocked again.

The Doctor pulled himself around the console, trying to reach the screen. The entire ship was trembling and shaking.

"We've hit something!" He finally managed to grab the edge of the monitor and twist it around to face him. His face fell. "Or rather, something's hit us."

He was thrown to the ground as the TARDIS spun uncontrollably. They were still in flight but something was messing up their course. Martha thought she heard a woman screaming, but it might have been her as the ship pitched wildly and she was sent hurtling across the console. She crashed into the railing on the far side of the room.

"Martha! Are you alright?"

The Doctor's voice sounded fuzzy… incoherent… She tried to stumble to her feet but could barely lift herself off the ground. _I must have a_…_ a concussion… or something…_

The last thing Martha heard before she passed out was someone knocking on the TARDIS door.

Tap, Tap, Tap, Tap.

:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:

The Master wandered through time and space, made up of eternity and yet clinging to this world by a string. He was here and he was there. He existed and he was just a shadow of the man he once was. He was omnipresent and he was ever absent, slipping through the cracks in the universe in his desperate search. He had to find the Doctor, find his Doctor and bring him to the scene of his greatest crime, lead him to their destiny. The Doctor might think things were over, that the time lock was firmly in place and the Master could never leave, but he was wrong, so very, very wrong. This was only the beginning of everything, the fall of the universe, the beginning of time, the destruction of the sun, the universe taking its next breath. Everything was going to fall into place and all would be right in the world.

And this was all because the Doctor and the Master needed each other. They defined themselves by each other, the other's presence, the other's absence, because in the end, it was the same: the Master and the Doctor. The two of them were destined to fight this battle forever.

The Master needed a way to find a way to the Doctor, his Doctor. He was at a bit of loss for a moment, because searching all of time and space would not be quick enough to find the Doctor, his Doctor.

Then, the Master remembered. The Doctor had had one companion, a companion who had taken the time vortex into her head, had become part of all of time and then scattered her name through all of time and space, following herself and the Doctor around. The Master could follow them and track the Doctor, his Doctor.

He tracked the Bad Wolf through time, stalking her in the forests of the universe, lingering in the shadows, just barely out of sight. He followed her, a glimpse of a person by the graffiti that decorated the proverbial trees. He followed her to the wall, to the void, and it was then he knew how to capture the Doctor. The void particles covered the Bad Wolf and those markers would always be stuck to her.

From there, he began to decide the best way to grab the Doctor when it was just him and the Bad Wolf alone, because the graffiti was too visible a place and the Master was still weak. However, he could take on the Bad Wolf.

He watched her appear in the sky, hurtling through space. The Master followed her and together, they collided with the blue box. The Bad Wolf screamed, just barely clinging onto the tumbling TARDIS. The Master threw back his head and laughed. He raised his hand and tapped out the drumbeats.

:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:

The woman, the first of the weeping angels as such she was branded, went to the Visionary as the chamber emptied out. She laid a gentle hand on the Visionary's forearm. "What do you see? Please, tell me what you foresee of his fate."

The Visionary did not look up, her eyes blank and unseeing as she drew a police box from the 1960s on the planet Earth. Above the box, she began to sketch a pair of piercing eyes, ones that stared out of the page, full of tears, but strong.

"The wolf will return at the full moon and haunt the shadow, the shadow will search through the darkness for meaning. The broken doll will find her strength and accept the challenge. The child of water will learn to fly as her ancient soldier will wait for her and protect her from all that try to harm her. The face will swagger in and lead the way before he dies. And she…she will return."

"But what does that mean?" the woman asked softly. "What of him?"

"He? He is everywhere and he is nowhere. He is contaminated and he is pure. He is waiting and he is fighting." The Visionary harshly crossed out everything she had previously drawn. "He is just a word."


End file.
